In the last Lesson 8: The Cycle Of New Life we talked about the outflowing of God’s grace from the throne of the lamb. It is from the source of the cross that the river of grace flows and it is the river of grace that produces faith. When we talk about the subject of faith many people think it is something that they have to muster up or produce on their own. To some, they think it’s like a magical formula and if you say all the right things then God will grant you what you want. All you have to do is rub the genie bottle and then poof God gives you anything you desire. Faith is not based on your desires or your will, but it is based on what God has done for you through Christ.
Faith is simply a result of grace. Faith is learning to lean on the strength of another who is your covenant partner. Faith is simply relying on the grace of Christ to lead you, strengthen you, protect you and provide for you along your journey.
The walk of faith is all about fulfilling God’s will for our lives. He has saved us so that he can live his life through us since we are his body. We are literally his hands and his feet in this earth as we walk along our journey. Saving faith is learning to trust God during our journey through this current age. God’s faithfulness is the source of faith along the journey.
Just as God delivered Israel from Pharaoh and the Egyptian army through the Passover sacrifice and the Red Sea in like manner we have been delivered from the god of this present age and the world through the work of the cross. We are called to walk by faith so that we have continued victory in this world. The Bible actually says that without faith it’s impossible to please God, that’s in Hebrews 11:6. The very core of faith is understanding the faithfulness of God and that His mercy always triumphs over judgement. Mercy is God’s extended lovingkindness to us even in our weaknesses and frailty.
The blood covenant through the cross is a message about our inability to save ourselves. It is a message of God’s mercy and his ability stepping in to give us strength to be victorious. As we identify with the cross and surrender to the Spirit of grace then faith is brought into our hearts so that we are delivered from the powers of darkness. Ephesians 2:8-9 says that, by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not as a result of works, that no one should boast. Grace is God’s favor and free love that has been poured out on us through the cross. God so loved us that He gave us Christ to literally become sin on our behalf that we might be free from sin’s power.
The journey of faith is learning to live a life in union with God. It’s not a one-time process or a transaction like going to the car dealership to buy a new car or going to the front of some church and saying a prayer or taking communion.
Saving faith is a walk, it’s a process, a lifetime commitment of learning how to grow into who we have become in Christ. You become a new person when you accept Christ into your heart, but saving faith grows as we learn to yield our lives to the river of God’s grace. It’s learning to become a habitation of God’s Spirit in the midst of a world that many times is walking in an opposite direction.
We are in this world, but we live by a different Spirit. We are to live by the Spirit flowing from the throne of grace and as we learn to yield to the grace of God then faith is produced in our hearts so that we are over-comers instead of being overcome by the trials of this life. It doesn’t mean the road is always a smooth road or that there are no struggles. It’s called the good fight of faith for a reason. Faith is about putting into practice and living out the redemptive work of Christ. Redemption is a process, just like God delivered the children of Israel from Pharaohs armies and Egypt’s power, he has delivered us from the 'god of this age' and his worldly system. The children of Israel didn’t inherit everything all at once. They had to go through the wilderness and then eventually conquer the promised land of their inheritance.
The Lord led Israel into the wilderness for forty years so that he might humble them, test them, so they could see their hearts and let God change them. That’s in Deuteronomy 8:2. The wilderness is the training ground for genuine discipleship and spiritual growth. The pattern Son Jesus had to go through the wilderness and be tested. It is a place where God will show you that he is the Lord who provides, saves, heals and delivers along life’s journey. It’s a place where your faith grows as you lean on the compassionate salvation that God has provided through Christ Jesus.
Salvation is a journey and a process of restoring our spirit, souls and bodies to be restored into the image and likeness of God.
We have been delivered by the cross, but we are also being changed by the grace poured out through the cross and our ultimate hope is that one day our bodies will be delivered from this present corrupt creation at the coming of Christ. However, we have to open our hearts up to this grace for it to change us. The river of life flowing from the throne can produce no energy unless it is channeled into our hearts.
Grace can only change us when it is channeled into our hearts and faith is the channel that connects us to our deliverance.
Ephesians 2:8¬-9 says that "by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not as a result of works, that no one should boast." Looking specifically at vs 8 it says that "by grace you have been saved 'THROUGH FAITH'. The word 'through' in the Greek language is defined as denoting the channel of an act'.
FAITH IS THE CHANNEL by which God's saving grace brings us salvation and all the benefits that come with grace. Romans 3:24-25 in the New Living Translation says, "Yet now God in His gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins... We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed His blood, sacrificing His life for us". We are saved from our sins by faith, not by works.
In Romans 3:27-28 Paul asks us, "Can we boast...that we have done anything to be accepted by God? He answers this question himself by saying, “No, because our acquittal or justification is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith. So, we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law or a code of conduct" (N.L.T.). Just as Abraham the father of faith was justified by believing God's word spoken to Him, so we are made right with God by believing in the message of the gospel.
The message of the gospel is so simple that it’s actually a stumbling stone for the arrogant and self-sufficient.
1 Peter 2:4-8, says as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, for it stands in scripture: Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So, the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
The gospel is the power of God that works for us if you simply believe and yield to its power. God’s desire is not that we go to church somewhere, but that we become a habitation where the Spirit can dwell. We are a holy priesthood designed to emanate the presence of God wherever we are.
The walk of faith is 24/7 there is no part time gospel.
The gospel consumes our lives like the sacrifice upon the altar and we must give our whole hearts to God. As we lay our hearts open before God, Paul said in Romans 1:6 that within the gospel is the "power of God for salvation to everyone who believes". So, within the gospel is the power to be justified, reconciled, forgiven and to have eternal life. Then in Romans 10:17 Paul says that we receive faith as we allow the word of God to penetrate our hearts: "So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of God".
Salvation is both instant and also progressive.
What I mean is that just as a baby is born into the world through birth, so the believer is brought into the kingdom of God through new birth. We are born into the family, but we must mature in our faith. I John 2:12 talks about children, young men and fathers. John says, I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
If you look at this text you see a progression that we go through in our faith. Children understand forgiveness of sins. It is the foundation of our faith, and our feet must be securely established in the cross. Young men learn to overcome through the word of God abiding strongly in their hearts. Fathers are those who have matured in their faith because they are firmly grounded in their identity of forgiveness and have learned to consistently overcome the evil one. Fathers are not trying to be something because they know him who is from the beginning and have come to the place where they are helping others learn how to practice their faith.
Salvation is holistic which includes the whole man. Man like God is a triune being. We are made up of spirit, soul and body. God has us on a path of restoration so that we can walk in a partnership with Him. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to keep our hearts with all vigilance for from it springs the issues of life.
We are born into the family, but we must mature in our faith. The soul and spirit are the eternal part of man. It is what we call the inner man of the heart. Saving faith is learning to work out your salvation with humility and trusting God to be our Father. Our Father is our provider, protector, guide, wisdom giver and the one who keeps us on a straight path during our journey in life.
James 1:21 tells us the way we learn to walk with God and that’s the pathway of humility. Humility is the key to transformation. The arrogant and self-sufficient stumble over the simplicity of the cornerstone through self-effort and dead works.
Humility of heart teaches us how to change from the inside out and it is performed when we receive with meekness the ingrafted word of God which is able to save the soul. We have to learn to have an ear to hear the word of God. We have a desire to hear, listen to and respond to the word of God in humility of heart when we hear it. It is the message of the cross that has the power to change us through the channel of faith. Romans 1:17 says “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Faith is the channel by which we learn to allow God’s power, provision, and all that he has given to us to flow into our lives.
Now let’s look in the book of Hebrews which gives us the best definition of faith. Hebrews 11:1–3 tells us that, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old were approved. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. If you continue to read through Hebrews chapter 11 then you will see a list of people of faith whom God spoke to and as they yielded to what God said, then He performed greatness through their lives.
What I want to do for the rest of this lesson is talk to you about faith and the salvation of our souls. As I said, the inner part of man is the spirit and soul, which is the eternal part of man. Our spirit through new birth is made in the image and likeness of God and it is where the Spirit of God fills our hearts. The soul is what people experience from your life through your emotions, your intellect and your determination or your will. The soul is the interface of the spirit. The soul and spirit are so intricately connected that Hebrews 4:12 says that only the word of God, which is living and active, sharper than any two-edge sword, can pierce the division of soul and spirit.
The soul is made up of the mind, will and emotions. Our souls can be damaged as we walk along life’s journey groping around in this present darkness.
The soul is where most of us have emotional wounds. The wounds of the soul can affect the channel of faith from fully flowing through our hearts. As I said, the soul is the interface of the spirit. I’ve talked to you about the power of the seed in Lesson 3: The Seed Of The Woman. In just a few minutes I’m going to talk to you about the power of the seed and the soil of our heart's, but computers are something that most of us understand in today’s culture so let me explain the interface to you because I think it will help you to understand.
The definition of interface is where two systems interact and come together. Let me use your cell phone as an example because it is a computer where you get information from, but if you’re like me then you’ve probably dropped your cell phone before and if you don’t have a cover you broke your screen.
The screen is the interface that the computer is connected to and outputs information for you. If the screen is cracked, then it’s hard to get that information and that’s what happens to our souls.
The soul is like our phone screen, it’s an interface that displays to the world what’s in our hearts. When you are born from above, all of the power is within your heart, but your souls are still damaged and it needs repair or restoration. The soul gets clogged up with garbage through life’s journey and it can block the flow of the river of God’s grace. It’s the living powerful word of God that can clean, heal and restore our soul’s so that the soul can interface correctly with our spirits, made in the image of God and the flow of grace can be displayed to this world.
It’s as we allow God’s word to have a place in our hearts that we experience its power to produce saving faith, restoring our souls.
In Mark 4:20, Jesus likened the heart of man to the soil and His words to a seed. As I taught in previous lessons that within the seed, God has given the power for it to reproduce after its kind. All there needs to be is good soil, which is open and available to be used for the seed to bear fruit. The point I am making here is that 'faith' is produced when we open up our hearts to hear and receive the grace of God through the message of the gospel. Humility of heart, consistency and perseverance are the keys to allowing the power of the seed of God’s word, to work in our hearts producing fruit. Does the soil have to struggle and strive for the seed to grow into a tree? No, because within the seed is the power! If you will keep the word of God planted in your heart, then it will produce the power of God in you.
Saving faith is a 'covenant agreement' with God. As we hear the message, we are invited to enter into a binding agreement or covenant with God and God's grace poured out on us. Romans 10:9 says, all we have to do is believe with our hearts and agree by a confession of our mouths, that Jesus is our Lord, then God's power does the rest. The 'blood covenant' is not based on our works, but based on the work of Christ on the cross.
The word confess, means to come into agreement with God. It's like marriage. When two people make their vows to one another they are confessing to one another or coming into a binding agreement together.
Salvation is coming into agreement with the 'blood covenant' God has made with us through Christ. As we do this then we become 'covenant partners' with Him. As covenant partners, it is our part to work out our salvation by allowing Him to work in us. As we agree with God, we will have faith to do His will. All we have to do is receive what Christ has already done for us. Saving faith is learning to align our hearts to the will of God spirit, soul and body. It’s learning to pray thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
We are the earth that God wants to transform and change.
Too many people are focused on things they cannot change and have no control over. Our bodies are made from the dust of the earth and we are the avenue by which God wants to touch this world. As you pray, thy kingdom come thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, then pray that God’s kingdom takes over your hearts. You are the place God wants to change. If God can change you, then he can start working through your life, to change others. If you’re a mess, you can’t help anyone else. However, as you allow God into your heart, and he changes you from the inside out, then He can use you to help others.
Let the seed of God’s power abide in your heart and the power of the seed will work within you. Our purpose is to fulfill the will of God just as Jesus sole purpose was to do the will of the Father. He is the pattern son and our goal in life should be to live our lives in union with him fulfilling the will of the Father.
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Next Lesson: Lesson 10 Part 1 - A Lifestyle of Repentance
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